Foam panels or blocks made of synthetic resin materials have long been known and employed for a wide range of end uses. Typically such panels or blocks range from rigid to highly elastic and may consist of a wide variety of materials. In addition, their volume weights may vary widely, ranging from a high of about 600 kilograms per cubic meter to a relatively low volume weight of 30 kilograms per cubic meter.
Since many end uses of such products are for thermal insulations, foam materials are often employed for such panels or blocks. Such foam materials are very light weight and typically have closed cell structure of very fine cells, whenever possible. Examples of such foam materials are polyurethane foams or polystyrene foams, as well as foams produced from polyolefins and polyethylenes.
In addition to use of such materials for thermal insulation purposes, a variety of other uses has been found for these materials. However, due to manufacturing problems enunciated in the continuous construction of very light weight foam panels or blocks, such uses have heretofore been limited or result in products which are extremely expensive. Typically, the continuous manufacture of very light weight foam panels or blocks is relatively complicated and is capable of producing panels or blocks up to a certain minimum volume weight. As a result, a wide variety of alternate uses and product constructions have heretofore been incapable of being competitively constructed, due to the inability of the industry to produce foam panels or blocks of the requisite size and shape in a manner which would be competitive.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide foam panels and/or blocks which can be manufactured relatively easily and which have very low volume weights based upon the total volume thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide foam panels and/or blocks having the characteristic features described above which are capable of being manufactured with virtually any length and/or width, depending upon the desired use thereof, as well as being capable of being manufactured in single or multiple layers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide foam panels and/or blocks having the characteristic features described above which also incorporate a plurality of elongated members affixed to each other comprising both similar and dissimilar cross-sectional configurations.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.